Unicorn Wines - Single Bottles From Current Producers

WINE TALK
1

I am changing the criteria from the thread below to focus on single bottling for this thread.

  1. ) Winemaker is currently making wine
    2.) Domain is still in existence
    3.) Specific bottles (e.g. Overnoy black cap)
    4.) Not available in the U.S. via wine-searcher
    5.) You would love to buy all you can

A few that come to mind:

1.) Overnoy Black Capsule
2.) Scholium Project Glos
3.) Clos Rougeard Brézé selection de grains Nobles
4.) Philip Pacalet Beaujolais (only available in Japan)
6.) Dagueneau Asteroide
7.) Schonleber Monzingen Auf der Ley (Dee Vine does have two listed).
8.) Wind Gap Blaufrankisch

2

i have a few bottles of #2.) Scholium Project Glos that are most likely going to winebid.com.

3

In an Oz mind. Rockford Basket Press Shiraz. Wendouree pretty much anything. Old bones Para Liquour Port.

4

Unicorn? Away from those Thomas Jefferson bottles…1995 Sine Qua Non Queen of Hearts- not sure the wine world has ever seen anything like it. I guess if you really want to buy a unicorn, you gotta belly up to the bar. More seriously (although I may not pay market prices when these are available given the pricing):

  1. Peter Michael Point Blanc
  2. Keller G-Max (and extra points for possibly the coolest name)
  3. Shafer HS Sunspot
  4. Chave Cathelin
  5. and for the grand prize… A wine not found for any vintage :wink: N.V. Jacques Selosse Champagne Blanc de Blancs Chemin de Châlons
5

I have a bottle of Wind Gap Blaufrankisch left - bought that with Piccolo Bastardo on a Halloween offering a while back. That Bastardo is rather bizarro - still have a bottle. The Blaufrankisch is sublime. Should drink the last bottle soon.

I would add Anthill Farms Cabernet Sauvignon Timber Crest Farms to the list. Wish I had that one still.

6

Overnoy vin jaune…

7

I still have 3 bottles of the Blaufrankisch. And a magnum of the Bastardo!

8

I think this whole idea is a lot of BS, but with that caveat:

Keller G-Max
Wendoree Shiraz (but I’ll take whatever I can get)
Scholium Margit’s A1 (I have one but I am afraid to open it until I can find another)
1935 Quinta do Noval Nacional
1795 Barbeito Terrantez

I asked Klaus Peter Keller about the G-Max, but it is so rare that he said I would just have to get lucky. I have never had an opportunity to buy it. I have never even seen a Wendouree and I understand that it is mail order only in Australia and not commercially imported into the US. I asked a friend who was there for a conference to try to find me a bottle, but she failed. I have tried to buy the last Nacional and Barbeito at auction but unfortunately, some lunatic was prepared to pay an order of magnitude more than I would pay. I have the '96 and '78 Nacional, but the '35 is supposed to be legendary and there are zero bottles in CT. I tried to buy a bottle of the '63 at auction, which is also supposed to be a legend, but again some idiot with too much money outbid me.

9

I have one bottle of Wendouree (Shiraz-Mataro). Happy to share if we meet up some time.

10

You don’t see this anywhere(2010)….except at my house! [tease.gif]

11

I’ve seen GMax on at least half a dozen restaurant lists and two retail store shelves.

12

I love the idea. Throw a hashtag at the end of a post, celebrating that you got to taste something awesome that you’ll likely never get to see again. Share that experience with people, and feel good about feeling good about the night you had. Of course it’s now the subject to top notch pedantry, and a wine can’t be considered A+ special because… it exists? Just amazing how quickly the fun can be sapped out of a subject by reductionists.

13

Shafer is looking for its own 1st year release of merlot. I think 1988.

I would consider that a unicorn.

14

Cool list Jay.

15

Agreed, this was the first one that came to mind when the subject came up in the other thread yesterday. Purchased the only bottle I’ve ever come across, a 1999 that I stumbled into in a shop here in Lausanne about a year back.

I also thought of Chave’s Vin de Paille.

16

Sorry, I’m a wolverine. The fact that other people have seen or might even own one of the wines on my list only gives me hope. Hell, I even own one of the wines on my list and I suspect that Dentice owns one too.

17

Jay I own a 15L of Margits, mags and 750s and a bunch of G-Max. Would be more than happy to open any of them for you - possibly over a Jets versus Bills game with Abe.

18

Can I have a dixie cup from the 15L Margits A1? I will admit to looking at the 750 I own a few times recently.

I have had G-Max a few times, it’s cool.

19

Lamy’s st. aubin chez edouard haut densite. I think keller’s GG pettenthal and hipping are even trickier to find than the G-max (if you buy the mixed GG case you get 2 G-max and one of each of the Pettenthal and hipping).

20

It’s a rare wine (auction only and only in Mags). But there are 300 mags. In Germany, it’s no big problem to buy it. But you don’t see it on many restaurant lists.

Unicorn wines could also be very rare wines, but some of those rare wines are not much sought after. For example, a lot of the Priorat micro-cuvées, often just 300 bottles. Or they are something strictly for the freaks (like different cask no. Spätlesen and Auslesen / auction Spätlesen and Auslesen).

I think the original “unicorn wine list” from the Eater article wasn’t so bad after all. Of course, all wines listed are fairly available, but not at decent prices and oftentimes no longer from older vintages. So maybe unicorn wines today are those from some producers listed in the Eater article (Rougeard, Coche, Raveneau), but from older vintages and at ex cellar prices + a normal restaurant markup (so no grey market prices + restaurant markup). As I dine in France quite often, I’ve noticed clearly that in many of my favorite places certain producers are getting more and more scarce and there is often just the currently available vintage on the list. Coche is the worst in that regard.